Breaking news: Top accountant stepping down

Coming shortly in a special e-mail alert to Agora Financial readers: Details on the resignation of David Walker, head of the Government Accountability Office and a key player in our Sundance-premiered documentary, I.O.U.S.A.

But here’s a preview:

“As comptroller general of the United States,” says David Walker , the federal government’s top accountant, ”there are real limitations on what I can do and say in connection with key public policy issues, especially issues that directly relate to GAO’s client — the Congress”…

Despite the “very difficult” nature of Walker’s decision, he has chosen to leave his post at the GAO to become the president and CEO of the newly founded Peter G. Peterson Foundation. He made the announcement to Congress this morning.

“While I love both my job as comptroller general and the GAO,” said Walker, “I love my country more. And I believe that leading this foundation represents a unique opportunity and will be good for my country. My new position will provide me with the ability and resources to more aggressively address a range of current and emerging challenges facing our country, including advocating specific policy solutions and courses of action.”

In other words, as bluntly as Walker has spoken in his role at the GAO — I mean, who this side of Bill Bonner and Addison Wiggin compares the United States to the Roman Empire? — it’s still not enough. In his new role out of government, Walker can lay it all on the line.

More details — including the implications for the documentary — coming later this evening in a special e-mail alert to all subscribers of a paid Agora Financial service. So watch your inbox.

The Daily Reckoning

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About Dave Gonigam:

Dave Gonigam has been managing editor of The 5 Min. Forecast since September 2010. Before joining the research and writing team at Agora Financial in 2007, he worked for 20 years as an Emmy award-winning television news producer.